Madam Masque

So the recent appearances of Madam Masque in New Avengers got me thinking.

I remember her from old Iron Man comics, where--first as the beautiful and criminal Whitney Frost, and then as Madam Masque--she wasn't a half-bad villain. Her outfit was striking. Her intelligence was impressive. Her ruthlessness was entertaining. There was a point where she had an actual relationship with Tony Stark (not that that's much of a feat), complete with the usual angst and betrayal. Haven't seen her in a while, and hope she's used well this time around.

But you know? She's pretty much got the same shtick as Dr. Doom. Scarred villain with a mask, and some sense that their power-hunger is exacerbated by their perceived loss of beauty and subsequent lack of connection to the world. (Actually I always kind of liked the version of Doom where the extent of his injury was a small, barely noticeable scar--that it was only his own perception that he was hideously deformed, because he was no longer "perfect"--but I think that interpretation has long gone by the wayside.)

Why is it that it is so much more central to her identity? I mean, there's a lot more to Doom than his scarring. But with Madam Masque, once that happened, that seemed to become pretty much her entire backstory. And she had so much more in addition to that--she was a villain before her injury, after all.